In 1894, Czar Alexander III of Russia gave the government strict monopoly of liquor sales, prohibiting private sale of alcohol. A disproportionate number of Jews had run taverns and liquor stores for centuries, and were now left without income and with heavily restricted options. A Jew in the Lithuania region continued to sell alcohol illegally until a fellow Jew vandalized his entire stock. Moments later, an inspector showed up. Finding broken and empty barrels, he neither arrested the storekeeper nor struck him with a crippling fine.

Should the vandal pay for the destroyed stock despite being the unwitting agent of salvation?

The Dilemma: Modern Conundrums. Talmudic Debates. Your Solutions.